The Cybermen Returns
by Djacruks
Summary: The Cybermen return with a plan, and Torchwood is ready.   Rated T to be safe. Work in progress, chapters will be added. No specific pairings, but implied Ianto/Jack, Tosh/Owen, Gwen/Rhys
1. Chapter 1

The fan-fic is set after episode 1, series 2.

The Cybermen are back from experimenting. But what are they examining? And why do they need humans?

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><p>Toshiko Sato was in the Hub at her workstation. She was calculating Rift info, thinking fondly about numbers and mathematic figures. Ianto Jones was in the Archives, happily sorting the right decades of files out. Owen Harper strode confidently around in the Autopsy, glanced proudly over at his well-watered alien plants. Gwen Cooper sat at her workstation, pretending to be very focused on a file about a fire 100 years ago, but was looking at her desk, where a framed picture of her and Rhys were both smiling wide, teeth showing in laughter. She sighed happily, and smiled at the picture. In Jack's office, the Captain sat, pretending to be doing paperwork, but his thoughts were with Ianto. And they were definitely not archiving in his mind.<p>

It was just in that second, all lost in thoughts, the Rift Activity alarm sounded, and Ianto was back, holding out Jack's coat for him to put it on, before the others even got up. Toshiko looked at her screen, now showing a radar, telling them they would need the SUV. Owen drove the black impressive vehicle, following the sat-nav, telling them to go north. They drove for an hour and a half, ended up in the dark. They all flicked on their torches on. The light lit up trees, dirt and their breaths. They moved forward – Jack in the front, Gwen and Owen right behind him, Ianto and Tosh in the back, looking for possible dangers. Something moved on the ground, Gwen automatically drawing out her gun, pointing her torch on the ground, eyes wide open. There was nothing there. She didn't know whether she should be relieved or scared. The team kept walking, constantly on guard. Jack was feeling impatient, when he turned around to Tosh, who was holding up some kind of alien tech. He was just about to ask her, what they were looking for, when she looked behind him, and he followed her eyes: "I think we found it" she said.

The group, all staring at a huge, dark cave entrance couldn't find any words. It was Ianto who broke the silence. "So er, do you reckon we should take our shoes off before we go in?" they shot him all a glance.

They went in, but kept their shoes on. They could soon hear distant metallic thuds, indicating work. They went closer to some light, and they stood up on a metal staircase, trying not to make any sounds. "Maybe we should've taken our shoes off" Ianto commented dryly, as Gwen's boot hit the metal. They once again shot him a glance, except Jack, who sent him a beaming smile and a wink at him. Ianto replied by smiling discreetly back at him and cleared his throat. They turned their attention back to the mission – what was causing the rift activity? Toshiko was focusing on her PDA, trying to figure it all out. Owen was observing the environment they had ended up in. It was a cave from dirt, with metal stairs, tools sounding from below. Jack looked down on to the lower floor, and saw a metallic glimpse. The sounds from the tools were then drowned from the sound of metallic, rhythmic thuds, indicating footsteps. Jack met Owens, Toshikos and Gwens eyes, but didn't dare to look at Ianto.


	2. Chapter 2

Ianto knew exactly what the sound was. It was the worst in the Universe, according to him. He saw the past in his head. Lisa being taken by the Cybermen; Lisa being converted to a Cyberman, screaming in agony; Lisa attempting to kill his colleagues. He saw her skin, half converted before him. Her soft, human cheek, and then at her temple, the cold, hard metal.

Jack went into think mode. He still couldn't bear looking at Ianto. He knew how much he had suffered. What was the Cybermen doing here?

Owen was feeling kind of impatient. His eyes rested on the Captain. "So, if you don't mind me asking Jack, but why are we waiting?" he got shushed by Jack, holding a finger up in front of himself. Owen rolled his eyes at Jack, only to get caught by Toshiko, looking disapproving at him. Gwen on the other hand, had observed the scenario, and smirked at him.

Toshiko had fallen into her role of logical thinking. Cybermen were creatures from a parallel universe, and they had one goal only; to delete emotions, and everyone who crossed them. So far, the Doctor had had them away from reality, but how had they come here? She was thinking about teleport, when she heard a scream; A high-pitched scream in agony. They all looked up at once; leaving Gwen to say everyone's thought. "They have a human, they must be converting!" the screaming got higher and a buzz were heard. The scream cried out in pain. The team started moving their way down the two staircases. Two on the left staircase, three on the right one. On the floor, they all drew out their guns, cocking them and aimed out everywhere in the room.

There wasn't much light. Cybermen footsteps could be heard the same place where the scream died out before. A distant Cyberman voice was heard; the team was unable to hear what it said. Jack turned around to his team. "All right, Toshiko, Owen. You're gonna find out what they're doing here. I want your logical explanations, theories, hypotheses, anything." He turned his head to Gwen and Ianto. "You two – with me. We're gonna kick them back into hell." was all he said in his American accent.

Jack turned, knowing Ianto would notice behind him, how his coat swirled after ham. He walked with long, determined steps, approaching the danger. Gwen, Ianto and Jack hid behind some cold metal boxes when they saw a Cyberman walking by them, in all its shining glory.

They waited until the stomping had faded, and Jack checked if there was any danger ahead, and started walking further into the room. He had a really bad feeling, when they turned the corner. And he was right. The sight was horrific.


	3. Chapter 3

Their steps died out, they held their breaths, Gwen making a little whimping sound, Ianto's jaw dropped. Jack was furious. A pile of humans, all sedated, on the ground a little away from them. A Cyberman's footsteps approached, took grip around a man's arm, and pulled him to one of the converting machines. They watched the Cyberman pulling the man into the silver machine, turning the machine on, and the man must have woken up, because everything – all sound – was drowned by the man's piercing and last scream. Ianto looked at the ground, determined not to look up, and meet the Captain's soothing, blue eyes.

Owen and Toshiko had found a dark corner, away from everything in the cave. They had only the beam from their torches to light up. "Could they have come by teleport?" asked Owen. He could see a little smile on her lips. "Exactly my thought, but I don't think so. How could they have been doing that?" she saw how Owens forehead lines frown, considering her question. "What about a vortex manipulator?" he suggested. "Where should they have gotten one from?" Owen thought about that to. Maybe they had stolen it from Captain John Hart when he arrived at the Void. No, wait. That couldn't be right, 'cause they'd thrown him into… the Rift. "How could they have come through the Rift? We're supposed to monitor it!" Toshiko felt like she had let the World down. Owen knew how she felt by looking at her eyes. "Come here, Tosh" he held out his arms and invited her into a comforting hug. She felt the warmth from his body against her skin. She sighed before snaking out of his arms, and smiled brave. "So if they came through the Rift," she said, her voice in total control and continued "How come we haven't seen it?"

Jack looked into a sedated woman's eyes. Bright green, but her pupils gave away, that she was heavily anesthetized. "Ianto!" he didn't even turn at him, when he answered right after "I know, their pupils are wrong" he said. Gwen was turning away from hers "Yes and their pulse are very slow." Jack let the green eyed woman's eyelid close, and he noticed that she was dreaming. Far gone in dreams, hopefully not knowing what was happening to her. Jack knelt down to her ear, saying "This won't happen anymore. I promise" he raised again, saying out loud to Gwen and Ianto: "No more! These people are not being converted today!" He almost shouted the end, and they had to shush him, panicking, because the next thing they heard was metallic footsteps. They didn't have the time to run, and the footsteps were getting closer and closer. They saw his fearless metal head and armor approach...


	4. Chapter 4

The stomping was now the only sound to be heard in the entire cave. Tosh shrugged, as the stomping came closer to her and Owen. She looked up at him, his eyes wide, thinking about their next move. He dared to look out from their hiding. "Is it safe?" Tosh whispered, and Owen nodded. They got up slowly, pulling out their guns. "Follow me," Owen said and got up. He walked with a fast pace, Tosh trying to keep up without making too much noise in her low heels.

They walked the opposite direction from the others, getting more separated from them by each step. "We're going outside to think" Owen said, like he had read her thoughts. They found a door that led to another room, dark and cold. They could, in the light from their torches, see their breaths in the cold. They could talk here, since it was a disused room. It was also a lot colder than the room they had left. "So, let's assume they stole John Hart's vortex manipulator when he got through the void. But what are they doing here?"

A cyberman, silver steel, impressive and dangerous stopped a few metres from Ianto, Gwen and Jack. They pulled out their guns and started to look around the room. No obvious way to get out, but if they were fast, they get back to where Owen and Tosh were.

Jack pressed his ear comm. "Tosh, Owen, are you there?" he barked lowly, as if it would make a difference. The cyberman had started moving, and all three had to run. Owen's voice could be heard through the ear comm. "Jack, we're in a very cold room nearby, down the hall. How's the situation?" they were all running up the stairs, near an emergency exit when Jack loudly said: "Owen, we're chased by a Cyberman" as soon as he'd said that, 4 more appeared. "And now, there's 5 of them" he added, frowning.

Ianto and Gwen wanted to buy the Captain some time, after hearing where they were. They nodded at each other and then they ran down the stairs again, Ianto on the foot of the staircase, standing with his gun drawn out, waiting to shoot any Cyberman, trying to do anything to Gwen. Gwen made a run for it, and was a lot faster than any of the Cybermen approaching her. One of them got really close, and was close to get her hair, when Ianto shot at the Cyberman's hand. The steelman turned. "You will be deleted" It said in its terrifying, cold voice. It approached Ianto with his cold steps, Ianto retreating up the stairs – not for any other reason, than to hold on to Jack. They looked at each other, knowing that danger was ahead. Jack winked at him, and hurried down the stairs, kicked the cold steel in the chest, and it fell over. He wanted to protect Ianto from his real life nightmares.

They ran down to Gwen, who was shooting at two Cybermen at once. Ianto started shooting at one of them, to make it easier for Gwen. "Why are you here, and what do you want?" Jack asked the Cybermen.

The cyberman's hard voice said: "The Cybermen regime is starting. We are starting here." Jack frowned. Gwen and Ianto were still fighting off Cybermen. The Cyberman's cold voice said loudly, loud enough so Owen and Toshiko could hear it: "All units, we are under attack. Stop converting and delete intruders!" Gwen, Ianto and Jack decided to run for it, getting to Owen and Tosh was most important – Jack needed their answers – and he needed them now.


End file.
